Introduction:

The heat resulting from cellular metabolic processes can be measured by infrared thermography, especially in cells with high energy consumption such as musculoskeletal cells. In dentistry, thermal changes can indicate muscle abnormalities or disorders. A search for scientific information was carried out in databases PubMed, SciELO, Redalyc, among others, from 2015 to 2020, in English and Spanish.

Objective:

To describe the physical principles and the most recent advances of infrared thermography in dentistry, related to temporomandibular disorders; pediatric pain; applications in implantology and endodontics.

Development:

Several applications of thermography were found in dentistry: i) temporomandibular disorders, ii) in the diagnosis of lupus erythematosus, iii) in implantology, iv) endodontics and v) pain in pediatric dentistry. Regarding i) and ii) in the consulted literature, results were obtained that supported the efficacy of Infrared Thermography as a complementary diagnostic test, especially in women. Regarding iii) and iv) Infrared Thermography proved to be effective as a method to evaluate thermal changes in procedures such as the preparation of the implant area and in the vertical condensation technique. Finally, in v), the Infrared Thermography seems useful for detecting the level of pain in children.

Conclusion:

Infrared thermography is a diagnostic tool with the potential to detect anomalies that induce thermal changes, as well as being an excellent method to detect high temperatures in various dental procedures that, without due care, can lead to treatment failure.

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